Upcoming Telebriefings

Secure Messaging

Security and Risk Management Strategies

5/27/2008 and 5/28/2008

The e-mail industry has yet to converge on a universal framework needed for securely sending e-mails. Instead, vendors' products hamper interoperability by offering too many choices. In this TeleBriefing, Analyst Randall Gamby assesses secure e-mail technologies, deployment options, vendor capabilities and market trends.

Slides for this TeleBriefing will be available the day before the TeleBriefing is held.

Designing WLANS for Manageability

Network and Telecom Strategies

5/20/2008 and 5/21/2008

Wireless LANs introduce subtle complexities that render normal network troubleshooting techniques ineffective. Instead of the predictability of copper wires, the vagaries of radio must be taken into account. Unlike switched Ethernet, wireless is a shared medium. Interference sources abound, and even room layouts can affect a wireless network. In this TeleBriefing, Service Director Michael Disabato provides information on WLAN interference sources, describes design considerations that can be used to design resilient, manageable networks, and applies the ITIL Service Lifecycle to the design of WLANs.

Slides for this TeleBriefing will be available the day before the TeleBriefing is held.

Previous Telebriefings

Doing Less with Less

Executive Advisory Program

May, 2008 -- It's been a difficult start to 2008. Despite bracing for it in the last months of 2007, each week seems to darken the economic outlook even more. Although the problem is accentuated in the United States, global impacts are being felt. In this TeleBriefing, members of the Executive Advisory Program discuss the impact of the economy on IT shops and organizations in general. What does it mean to "Do Less with Less", and how can you ensure the forward momentum of strategy when all eyes are narrowly focused on the quarterly bottom line?

Maturing Role for Enterprise Single Sign-On: Tactical Solution for the Long Term

Identity and Privacy Strategies

May, 2008 -- Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) products are integrating with Identity Management suites and provide a lightweight entry point for identity management initiatives based on shorter deployment time and lower cost. Principal analyst, Phil Schacter, will examine the maturing enterprise SSO solutions, market dynamics, and recommendations for leveraging this tactical technology as a long term part of an enterprise's identity management program.

Windows Server 2008: Is it Worth the Upgrade Pain?

Data Center Strategies

May, 2008 -- Microsoft's launch of Windows Server 2008 seems to have slipped silently into the back of IT organizations minds. Windows Server 2003 solves the bulk of IT operating system needs begging the question "What's compelling in Windows Server 2008 to merit the pain of upgrading? For many IT shops, Windows Server 2003 is good enough. In this TeleBriefing, Service Director Richard Jones discusses some of the key new features and recommendations for Windows Server 2008 and reviews what the bulk of the industry is planning with this Microsoft operating system upgrade.

The Role of Enterprise Content Management in Content Globalization / Localization

Collaboration and Content Strategies

April, 2008 -- Globalization is profound, it’s irrefutable, and it’s irreversible.” These words, spoken by General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt, are a clear signal that the business world acknowledges a globalization wave that is unlikely to subside. But how has this wave impacted information technology (IT)? The authors and owners of content have often been insulated from this storm, but a stark increase in globalization demands is pulling IT in. In this TeleBriefing, Service Director Craig Roth describes how enterprise content management (ECM) processes and technology, from authoring to analytics, can reduce the cost, cycle times, and inconsistencies of localization efforts.

IT: The Business of Technology

Executive Advisory Program

April, 2008 -- Corporate executives, burdened by past technology investments and wary of economic changes, are viewing IT investments with additional skepticism. IT professionals, once primarily viewed as technologists, find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of having to justify their role in today’s less technical, more traditional business landscape. In this TeleBriefing, CIO Executive Strategist Ken Anderson joins forces with members of our Application Platform Strategies team to discus how IT professionals can integrate the world of business into their world of technology.

Data Leakage Prevention

Security and Risk Management Strategies

April, 2008 -- Do you know where your data's been? Or more importantly, where it's going? Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) solutions have become popular in recent times to protect against leaks of personally identifiable information (PII), intellectual property, and other sensitive content. But DLP can be tricky when legitimate usage is not well understood. This session will identify the issues and strategies for deploying DLP solutions in an enterprise environment and make recommendations for success.

Content Delivery Networking: New Look at an Old Technology

Network and Telecom Strategies

April, 2008 -- Content may not be "King" but over the past year content has courted a lot of attention. As an example, the music industry has been changed forever, ISP's seek to control the entertainment content that flows into people's homes and businesses, and more ISP's and cable providers are under fire for altering the content streams of their customers. Underlying this attention, content delivery networks (CDN) enable large-scale downloads over the Internet and consequently CDN providers such as Level 3, Akamai, and Limelight have also been in the news. In this TeleBriefing, senior analyst Jeff Young takes a look at this technology, the players, and the future of CDNs.

Let’s Get Logical: The Integration of Identity and Physical Access Control Systems (PACS)

Identity and Privacy Strategies

April, 2008 -- Convergence is more than the use of a common card to access physical and IT-based resources. In this TeleBriefing, Senior Analyst Mark Diodati summarizes the convergence milestones, and discusses the use cases for integrating identity and physical access control systems (PACS). He surveys the PACS vendors and the nascent convergence market, dives into the complex, multi-year nature of convergence deployments, and explores some the recent security concerns regarding card “cloning” and “skimming”. Finally, Mark recommends approaches for evaluating potential convergence projects and strategies for avoiding pitfalls.

Software Licensing for Virtual Environments: Current Problems and Future Trends

Data Center Strategies

March, 2008 -- Countless software and operating system vendors have been slow to define both licensing and support for server virtualization solutions, resulting in stalled virtualization adoptions and licensing compliance uncertainty. In this TeleBriefing, Senior Analyst Chris Wolf breaks down the current state of server virtualization licensing and support amongst the vendor community, while highlighting the technical elements of the virtual infrastructure that impact product licensing. The presentation will show an ideal licensing model for virtual environments and then contrast current licensing schemes against that model. The telebriefing concludes with a look at future trends that will shape software licensing moving forward.

What’s Up, .DOC? ODF, OOXML, and XML in Productivity Applications

Collaboration and Content Strategies

March, 2008 -- Industry debate about the relative merits of OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Ecma 376 Office Open XML (OOXML) highlights the significance of the productivity application market shift from binary and proprietary file formats to vendor- and product-independent Extensible Markup Language (XML) models. The competitive stakes are huge, and the related political posturing is sometimes perplexing. In this summary of the "What's Up, .DOC?" overview published in January, Research Director Peter O’Kelly introduces ODF, OOXML, and related World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards, and project their implications for future productivity applications.

Rich Mobile Applications for the Enterprise

Application Platform Strategies

March, 2008 -- Smartphones are sophisticated processing platforms that fit in your pocket. Often used for email and personal information management, these devices are capable of much more: They can host rich mobile applications (RMAs) that enable access to enterprise applications and data. In this Application Platform Strategies TeleBriefing, research director Anne Thomas Manes explains the capabilities, advantages, and limitations of RMAs, and discusses the current and future states of the RMA market.

Governance, Risk, and Compliance: Realistic Perspectives

Security and Risk Management Strategies

March, 2008 -- “GRC” (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) is a hot marketing buzzphrase, but GRC is not a market category. Governance, risk management, and compliance are three separate but related activities, each of which is somewhat dysfunctional in most organizations today. Improvements in G, R, C processes can benefit from improved automation, however. As a result, many vendors offer solutions that offer partial help. In this Telebriefing, Bob Blakley and Trent Henry discuss the goals, management disciplines, and tools associated with governance, risk management, and compliance. Bob and Trent will also describe Burton Group’s concept of governance as “round-trip management” and will introduce the solution pyramid--a framework for thinking about how vendor tools fit into an effective round-trip management model to improve governance, risk management, and compliance programs.

WLAN Security is NOT an oxymoron

Network and Telecom Strategies

February, 2008 -- Many view security as the single most critical issue forwireless LANs (WLANs). The attack on TJX shows how easy it is for an intruder to steal confidential information over a WLAN. In this TeleBriefing, Senior Analyst Paul DeBeasi provides best practice guidance fordeploying secure WLANs, drawing on the wisdom Burton Group has gained as aresult of assisting large, multinational enterprises with their wireless security architecture.

User Provisioning: Injecting a Dose of Reality

Identity and Privacy Strategies

February, 2008 -- Burton Group recently investigated provisioning deployments at over 25 organizations. This research uncovered several key findings relating to provisioning project governance, technology selection, and deployment issues. In this telebriefing, Senior Analysts Kevin Kampman and Lori Rowland will discuss the lessons learned and best practices garnered from this research. They will also offer advice on how to avoid common provisioning project pitfalls and make recommendations for conducting a successful provisioning deployment.

Data Center Strategies VantagePoint 2008

Data Center Strategies

February, 2008 -- The face of the data center is changing to meet business growth demands. In 2007, virtualization drove data center consolidation by reducing space and energy footprints. But consolidation was just the beginning. In 2008, the data center moves beyond consolidation and into a world where service providers become a reality, cheaper infrastructures drive storage, disaster preparedness is affordable, and IT is managed as a service. In this Data Center Strategies VantagePoint TeleBriefing, Research Director Drue Reeves and the DCS analyst team will enumerate the business and technological trends driving change within the data center.

CCS VantagePoint 2008: Richer Tools, Simpler Infrastructure

Collaboration and Content Strategies

February, 2008 -- In 2007, new releases of Microsoft SharePoint and IBM Lotus Notes and the arrival of Google Apps, Premier Edition, hinted at things to come in the collaboration, communication, and content market. In 2008, these new directions will become clearer. In this annual trends TeleBriefing, the Collaboration and Content Strategies analysts will summarize how user interfaces and work styles are becoming richer than they were in the past, at the same time that the number of vendors and the necessary infrastructure is shrinking.

VantagePoint 2008-2009: Think Big, Take Small Steps

Application Platform Strategies

January, 2008 -- Application delivery teams are being asked to deliver more with less and to produce more flexible and adaptable systems. To address these demands, delivery teams need to adopt an enterprise perspective when it comes to planning and prioritization, yet execute rapidly and deliver real business value in achievable incremental steps. In this VantagePoint presentation, the Application Platform Strategies team will discuss trends in five strategic areas: platforms, languages, and frameworks; SOA and integration; software development lifecycle (SDLC); presentation technologies; and data access technologies.

VantagePoint 2008: The end of Command / Control is Near

Identity and Privacy Strategies

January, 2008 -- In this TeleBriefing, analysts from the Identity and Privacy Strategies service will discuss major trends in digital identity for 2008. With over a decade of sustained development on identity management (IdM) technologies, the market is both flourishing and flailing. As IdM vendors swarm around the most lucrative IT projects, the demand for compliance software in particular has left a permanent mark on IdM landscape. Technologies such as user provisioning, user federation, and directory services do—when judiciously applied—help organizations achieve near term audit and regulatory goals. But the presumption of centralized, command/control built into these technologies is already showing its limitations. Businesses are increasingly relying on partnerships to achieve their objectives, meaning that users and IT systems are rarely all “under one roof.” Instilling control over distributed environments is a tall order for IdM systems, but the solution can’t be to force businesses to maintain monolithic domains. Instead, the technology must become more sophisticated to enable businesses to collaborate efficiently over distribute systems and with a diversified user population. Burton Analysts will discuss the ways in which digital identity will better support distributed systems in 2008.

Security and Risk Management Strategies VantagePoint 2008: Security Vital Signs

Security and Risk Management Strategies

January, 2008 -- In this year's VantagePoint Telebriefing, the industry is the patient and Burton Group is the doctor. We'll take out our analytical 'scopes and measure the vital signs of the security market to assess its health in terms of the key SRMS themes for 2008:

• Governance, compliance, risk management
• Protecting data at the source
• Global enterprise protection dynamics, challenges, and good practices
• Debunking the myth of a NAC “market” and putting NAC in its right architectural place

Another theme we'll take on is finding the right metrics. For ultimately, the vital signs of information security should become just as clear and well-understood as "blood pressure," "oxygen level," and "pulse."

NTS VantagePoint 2008

Network and Telecom Strategies

January, 2008 -- Further industry consolidation, mobile services that continue to augment -- or in some instances replace -- wireline communications, eroding revenues for voice, and challenges from third-party content and application services are threatening the status quo for telecom service providers. In this annual trends TeleBriefing, the Network and Telecom Strategies analysts summarize how these and other developments in the areas of wide area networking, site networking, wireless and mobility, voice and real-time communications, network performance, and operations and management will influence the future of enterprise networks.

Data Center Systems Management: A Layered Approach

Data Center Strategies

December, 2007 -- Systems management is a hodge-podge of proprietary interfaces, protocols and data models. Despite industry standardization efforts, systems management has not significantly progressed and remains a nascent, immature technology. Today, as information technology IT organizations move toward services-based management, they are finding that systems management lacks the scalability and interoperability needed to enable IT Services Management (ITSM). In this Data Center Strategies TeleBriefing, Burton Group Research Director Drue Reeves explores the issues with systems management, reviews the latest standards, and describes the layers of Data Center Systems Management.

The Effective CIO

Executive Advisory Program

December, 2007 -- CIOs that provide a reliable, flexible, and cost-effective infrastructure go unnoticed. Completing projects on time and within budget is expected. Responding to customer needs in a timely manner is considered business as usual. These functions, once thought strategic, now constitute entry-level requirements for any CIO. In this TeleBriefing, Executive Strategists Ken Anderson and Jack Santos discuss the challenges facing today’s CIOs and what it means to be effective in this difficult role.

Deciphering Social Media

Collaboration and Content Strategies

December, 2007 -- Social media is a critical issue for all organizations. While there are risks to address, social media offers organizations tremendous opportunities to deliver products and services that enhance customer, partner and employee relationships. Executive teams are also exploring how social media catalyzes innovation efforts and transforms work models. In this TeleBriefing, industry luminary Anil Dash, chief evangelist of Six Apart, and Chris Howard, VP and Service Director of Burton Group's Executive Advisory Program, join Principal Analyst Mike Gotta for a lively discussion on the challenges and benefits social media presents to the enterprise.

Reference Architecture Templates: SDLC Infrastructure

Application Platform Strategies

November, 2007 -- Tools such as version control systems, unit testing frameworks, code analyzers, and build automation platforms provide essential support for software development. Integrating and automating the various components of the development infrastructure increases their value exponentially for both developers and the enterprise; automation is the key to enhancing developer productivity, project quality, and operational excellence. In this Telebriefing Burton Group Senior Analyst Joe Niski introduces Reference Architecture Templates that provide a visual model of the SDLC infrastructure, and illustrates using the Templates to discover opportunities for tool integration.

Smoke and Mirrors of Virtualization Security

Security and Risk Management Strategies

November, 2007 -- Virtualization is real. Organizations are migrating clients and servers to virtual environments in pursuit of promised gains in flexibility and management of IT resources. Security may be the most polarizing issue - with some claims of magic bullet-like benefits while others scoff at the notion. The reality is more complex, with circumstances dictating the benefits and losses. This TeleBriefing will lay out the groundwork for security in virtual environments, and introduce the Five Immutable Laws of Virtualization Security.

New Reference Architecture Templates: Securing the Network

Network and Telecom Strategies

November, 2007 -- As part of its ongoing research into enterprise networking best practices, Burton’s Network and Telecom Strategies service continues to publish and maintain a set of reference architecture templates. A revised set of network templates has been created with improved coverage of network security perimeters and zoning, data center networking, and application flows. In this TeleBriefing, Research Director Dave Passmore will explain what’s new relative to the previous network reference architectural templates, and why these changes were made.

Picking the Right Federation Product for the Job

Identity and Privacy Strategies

November, 2007 -- Organizations needing identity federation products have over a dozen options to choose from. But even though the products all have similar core features, evaluating these products isn't the proverbial apples-to-apples comparison. Enterprises need identity federation products at many tiers in their networks, and each of these products targets a particular tier of service. In this TeleBriefing, Research Director Mike Neuenschwander reviews leading identity federation products and offers advice on how to fit the right server to the task at hand.

Redefining the Mid-range Storage Array

Data Center Strategies

October, 2007 -- Learn how a new generation of mid-range storage arrays based opn commodity hardware are redefining the category with:

• Greater scalability
• More advanced storage services
• Higher performance

XQuery and Its Transformational Potential for Content and Data Management

Collaboration and Content Strategies

October, 2007 -- XML Query Language (XQuery) is an exceptionally powerful emerging standard for Extensible Markup Language (XML) content manipulation. XQuery is likely to become for XML content what Structured Query Language (SQL) is for relational data, and XQuery also has significant synergy with SQL for mixed content/data operations. Overall, XQuery represents both new opportunities and significant disruptive potential for incumbent content and data management vendors. In this telebriefing, Research Director Peter O’Kelly introduces XQuery and explains its implications for content and data management.

Service Component Architecture (SCA)

Application Platform Strategies

October, 2007 -- The Service Component Architecture (SCA) family of specifications defines a new service component and composition model, and it is being endorsed by an impressive set of platform and integration vendors. The model is potentially convenient and highly productive, although its effectiveness is yet to be proven. Unlike most other programming models, SCA is language- and protocol-independent. It uses an annotated-code framework, exploits the dependency injection design pattern, and insulates a service’s business logic from many infrastructure concerns. If SCA proves to be successful, it may displace established component models, such as Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE). In this Application Platform Strategies TeleBriefing, research director Anne Thomas Manes will explain the key concepts of the SCA family of specifications and explore the potential market impact of this new model.

SIEMese Twins: The Security Information Management and Security Event Management Markets

Security and Risk Management Strategies

October, 2007 -- Security Information and Event management products continue to mature. Their ability to process large numbers of events quickly, to recognize patterns of suspicious behavior in streams of events, to store and manage very large volumes of event data, to send alerts to security and support staffs, and to generate reports suitable for managers and compliance auditors has improved substantially over the last two years and continues to improve. Compliance continues to be the major driver in the SIEM market - and it is driving SIM and SEM in separate but parallel directions. In this TeleBriefing, Principal Analyst Bob Blakley reviews two years of progress in SIEM, examines the offerings available for large enterprises and smaller businesses, discusses how and why to use SIM, SEM, or both, and looks ahead at likely market developments.

The In's and Out's of Outsourcing the Enterprise Network

Network and Telecom Strategies

September, 2007 -- Does a public or private network better serve the enterprise? Should an enterprise build or buy networks and services from a provider? In an attempt to make the “build versus buy” decision easier for the enterprise Senior Analyst Jeff Young examines the various ways that an enterprise can outsource or in-source networking and will provide a list of recommendations for those who are considering a network outsource.

Shotgun Wedding? HR and Identity Management

Identity and Privacy Strategies

September, 2007 -- In our many dealings with identity management teams, we frequently note the absence of those responsible for managing a large population of biological assets, Human Resources. In this TeleBriefing, Carey Ellinghaus of The Hackett Group will join with Senior Analyst Kevin Kampman to discuss identity management initiatives of particular interest to HR, including

• Identity verification
• Roles and responsibilities
• Identity governance
• Identity audit
• Federation with partners

This TeleBriefing is an opportunity to educate your HR community about forward-looking IdM activities and how these relate to HR capabilities. The discussion will be targeted to a non-technical audience, so invite your local HR representative to join you on this call!

Preparing a Business Case for Collaboration

Collaboration and Content Strategies

September, 2007 -- As the business environment becomes more competitive, global, and responsive, the need for technologies that can support collaboration initiatives is increasing. However, translating these business imperatives into a business case for a specific collaboration technology has proven difficult. How can the need for collaboration technology be conveyed to business executives? What methods can be used to create a business case for collaboration technology? In this TeleBriefing, Service Director Craig Roth describes the common drivers for collaboration, approaches that can be used to demonstrate value, and the pitfalls that can be avoided when creating a business case for collaboration technology.

Business Continuity: Keeping Business Humming

Data Center Strategies

September, 2007 -- Business executives have become acutely aware that the criticality of IT systems to their business operations continues to grow. However risk of disruption to smoothly running business processes also continues to increase, raising the need for business continuity throughout the corporation. In this Burton Group Data Center Strategies TeleBriefing, Service Director Richard Jones explores the shifts in the business market place coupled with the recent regulatory requirements, business continuity processes, and technological advancements, offering guidance to corporations needing to implement or improve their business continuity solutions.

Is iPhone Ready for the Enterprise?

Application Platform Strategies

August, 2007 -- The iPhone has been called a major advancement in mobile technology for the mass consumer market, but does the iPhone have a place in the Enterprise? In this Burton Group panel discussion Jamie Lewis, CEO and Research Chair of Burton Group, will lead a discussion of the iPhone and its place in the enterprise. The panel will include leading analysts from Burton Group various services including Dave Passmore, Vice-President of Network and Telecom Strategies; Diana Kelley, Vice-President of Security and Risk Management Strategies; Peter O’Kelly, Vice-President of Content and Collaboration Strategies; Bob Blakley, Principal Analyst with Identity and Privacy Strategies; and Richard Monson-Haefel, Senior Analyst with Application Platform Strategies.

PCI Compliance: Everything you Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask

Security and Risk Management Strategies

August, 2007 -- The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) continues to cause confusion and consternation with merchants and retailers. Organizations that must be PCI compliant want to know what the role of the Security Standards Council (SSC) is, when will version 2.0 come out and what will it look like, and most importantly what does an organization need to do to be compliant? In this telebriefing, Security and Risk Management Strategies Service Director, Diana Kelley, will provide a short update on PCI and present tips on how to meet the requirements. Next, Diana will ask Robert M. Russo, General Manager of the PCI Security Standards Council and Ed Moyle, a certified PCI Assessor and Manager at CTG frequently asked questions from Burton Group customers about PCI. Following the formal presentation, audience members will be able to “Ask the Experts” themselves and get answers to their burning PCI questions.

WLAN System Architecture: Why Should You Care?

Network and Telecom Strategies

August, 2007 -- Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Systems were hot products when they were first introduced back in 2003. Since that time, the market has embraced the use of controllers to manage lightweight access points (APs). But are all WLAN Systems created equal? How do they compare in areas such as mobility and manageability? In this TeleBriefing, Senior Analyst Paul DeBeasi will analyze the differences between WLAN System architectures and explain why those differences matter.

Privileged Account Management: Addressing the Seedy Underbelly of Identity

Identity and Privacy Strategies

August, 2007 -- Privileged accounts can bypass controls designed to protect sensitive information from destruction or breaches. These accounts traditionally live outside the organization’s identity management processes. In this TeleBriefing, analyst Mark Diodati examines the compliance issues associated with privileged accounts, surveys products from the fast-growing privileged account management market, and recommends some approaches to improve the security privileged accounts.

Data Services: Making Data Secure and Accessible

Application Platform Strategies

July, 2007 -- Within service-oriented architecture, data services can make data both more secure and more accessible throughout the enterprise. The loosely coupled nature of data services makes it possible for intermediaries to add value and context to data through data transformation, cleansing, security, routing, and auditing. This mediation can be dictated by the enterprise’s data management policies, which can be stored in central policy repositories. In this TeleBriefing, APS Analyst Lyn Robison explains how to apply service-oriented principles to data access.

SharePoint in the Enterprise: Building it Right from the Start

Collaboration and Content Strategies

July, 2007 -- Today many SharePoint deployments are mostly a series of ad-hoc sites and libraries, resulting in hard to find information, inconsistent user experiences, and impossible to manage systems. Careful planning and preparation, including defining policies and standards, is required for SharePoint to be successful as an enterprise solution. Organizations that take a holistic enterprise perspective when deploying SharePoint can overcome common pitfalls and stumbling blocks to adoption and growth. Analyst Karen Hobert will explore some best practices and techniques that organizations can follow when deploying SharePoint in the enterprise.

Virtual Machine Backup Bliss? The State of VM Data Protection

Data Center Strategies

July, 2007 -- Many data centers have been forced to deal with virtual machine (VM) backup and recovery by shoe-horning solutions that may not fit or work exactly as planned. Data protection of virtualized servers holds a great deal of promise in the future, but what can enterprises do today? Issues such as unexpected bottlenecks, inflated backup windows, backup limitations of virtual hard disks, and a lack of backup ISV guidance often compound the challenges of meeting an organization’s protection and recovery objectives. In this Data Center Strategies telebriefing, Senior Analyst Chris Wolf outlines successful strategies for protecting and recovering x86/64 virtual machines in enterprise environments, while highlighting the numerous pitfalls that often present themselves along the way.

Just Like Yoda Said...

Security and Risk Management Strategies

July, 2007 -- The IT industry is talking about the wrong capital "C." The focus shouldn't be Compliance; it should be Control. We’ve been missing capital "R," too. Rather than trying to manage Regulation, security teams should be taking care of Relationships—between themselves and audit/legal groups; between employees and critical policies; and between business processes and audit evidence. In this TeleBriefing, Senior Analyst Trent Henry explains how this changed view will help to avoid the common pitfall of compliance: a single-minded focus on technology. At the same time, he will show that it doesn’t take a Jedi Master to utilize emerging tools for automating orchestration of controls—both technical and non-technical‹which results in an effective, compliant organization.

Pre-Plan your Next Meltdown

Network and Telecom Strategies

July, 2007 -- Rapid response is crucial in responding to Web transaction problems, but this is easy compared to the crisis enterprises are facing with VoIP and web services. Networks, applications, servers, and appliances keep changing; how can managers handle the chaos? An important answer is triage and dye-tracing, to help the NOC find the responsible group and rapidly determine a fix. These techniques will also apply to external “fire-fighters” and development groups. Senior Analyst Eric Siegel will give practical examples of how to use these techniques and technologies on complex network and server-room systems.

Addressing Interoperability Challenges

Identity and Privacy Strategies

June, 2007 -- It’s the season of interoperability demonstrations at the annual North American Catalyst conference. This TeleBriefing will provide a preview of two demonstration events that are focused on key interest areas for the identity management industry: user-centric identity models and XACML-based policy management. Service Director Gerry Gebel will provide background information on the interop demonstrations and interview key participants to review objectives, participants, and potential outcomes for the industry.

Introduction to Data Center Strategies: Burton Group’s Newest Service

Data Center Strategies

June, 2007 -- This TeleBriefing will introduce you to the newest Burton Group service: Data Center Strategies. Data Center Strategies (DCS) service gives you actionable guidance on building and operating your data centers more efficiently while preparing them for the future. A sample of topics covered include: server and storage virtualization, iSCSI, disaster recovery, business continuity, blade systems, multi-core processors, and low power platforms. You will hear from members of the DCS team who are highly respected industry analysts with an average of more than 20 years experience in areas crucial to data center evolution. Based on the inbound inquiries we receive on the subject, it’s clear that data center architecture is a top of mind issue for many IT professionals.

Enterprise 2.0: Harnessing the Complexity of Technology, Culture, and Change

Collaboration and Content Strategies

June, 2007 -- Enterprise 2.0 is a meme gaining widespread popularity. It has brought forth a multitude of business value prognostications from industry and academic experts. For some, Enterprise 2.0 is a catalyst for organizational transformation by shifting power from hierarchies to individuals and networks, or from the center to the edge. For others, Enterprise 2.0 simply represents behind-the-firewall adoption of Web 2.0 social software. In this Burton Group telebriefing, Principal Analyst Mike Gotta offers a pragmatic Enterprise 2.0 assessment, along with guidance on how organizations can leverage its potential.

REST: Is it the Next Big Thing?

Application Platform Strategies

May, 2007 -- The blogosphere is abuzz with discussions of REST (Representational State Transfer). Ardent REST proponents recommending using REST for most distributed applications. Many recommend using REST instead of the WS-* framework. So what is REST? What are the benefits of using REST? Are there any downsides? When should you use it? And how do you go about implementing RESTful applications? In this Application Platform Strategies TeleBriefing, research director, Anne Thomas Manes, and senior consultant, Peter Lacey, discuss and debate the advantages and disadvantages of REST.

Vulnerability Management: Where is it headed?

Security and Risk Management Strategies

May, 2007 -- Vulnerability management has changed from simply scanning for vulnerabilities to a more comprehensive examination of hosts and network devices. Vendors have followed that trend by introducing full featured products that include workflow and remediation systems. The market is changing once again as alternatives to patching are being made available. At the same time, vendors are jumping into data leakage protection and compliance monitoring. In this Telebriefing, Senior Analyst Eric Maiwald will discuss the direction of vulnerability management products with a panel of experts in the field.